Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-09-24
USE OF PAPER IN BUILDING.
1t Can be Nodded, Stamped, Cut, Nailed
and Easily Handled.

iNA AA4oiAhS OiiNt NNNVsttlAiI- Ihi.
poses;
When the model cheap house shall be
finally evolved it is probable that paper
will enter largely into its construction.
We already use the material for out
side weathering and for Insulation within.
1t has became standard wall decoration in
the house. 1t often keeps out the cold of
winter and the heat of summer. In floors
1t cuts of the passage of sound, and 10
material better serves for ice-room walls
If the fastest passenger trains thunder
across the continent on paper wheels, eX-
posed to storms, winds and changes of
temperature, why may not the same ma
, terial easily lend itself to use in the con-
struction of our houses? While already
used for siding, it seems not to have been
thought of for shingles fioorings, archi-
trayeS and many kinds of constructive
ornaments. 1t will stand the climate even
under the severeSt tests, and will scarcely
need painting more than pine, and ID can
be decorated to the designers fancy 1t
can be nodded, stamped, cut, nailed and
| handled more easily than any material we
now have.
AS IN exterior use, so within; each part
may be paper; and sometimes the wall and
ceiling, plain or ornamental, in relief, the
bases, the architraves, the mantels, even
the doors themselves, will be made of
paper. Recent accounts have been received
of the French use of paper as complete
doors and complete piano cases. The
material for this purpose is very highly
spoken of. Remember that paper, like
wood, may be treated with paints for orna-
| ment or preservation.
Economically considered the free use of
paper for lining walls and the double
| thickness of glass in windows will in a very
short time pay large dividends in the say
ing of fuel. One architect claims for an
eight-inch wall, properly lined with paper.
| greater resistance to the cold of winter
| and the heat of summer than is usually
obtained from a wall built sixteen inches
in the old method.
i Another speaker, in prophesying the
future development of such materials as
paper, remarks that We class great va
riety of substances under the general name
of paper, but his main idea is flexible
sheet made Of vegetable or other fiber.
which has been reduced to a pulp and then
spead out and pressed and dried. Its most
obvious qualities are:
I L. NOiltlLlultf vi StiistNC- II Cdli NC HHiuc
in rolls of almost any width and length. 1t
is flexible, or by gluing several LAYERS to-
gether may be made stiff. 1t will stop the
passage of air because there are no joints
2. 1t has no grain like wood, and will not
split
3. 1t is not affected by change of tenn
perature, and hence has an advantage over
sheet metal as roofing material.
4
affected by moisture, it may be rendered
waterproof by saturating with asphalt or
by a variety of other treatments.
5. 1t is non-resonant, and well fitted to
prevent the passage of sound.
6. 1t is a non conductor of heat.
7. 1t can be made of incombustible ma
terial like asbestus, or rendered fire-resist-
ing by chemical treatment.
We can therefore produce large sheets
either flexible or stiff that will not conduct
sound, heat or cold, and that will prevent
the passage of air, moisture and fire.
Paper pulp is now made of such a
variety of substances, each with its special
qualities, that it is reasonable to suppose
that we have not vet reached by any
means the limits Of its usefulness as a
building material.
By combining paper pulp with other
substances and solidilying the mass by
pressure we may produce a material that
will replace wood for many purposes, and
the ease with which it may he made into
sheets of any width and thickness that
viii not warp or shrink from heat or cold
or dampness indicates the superiority of
this material
The commercial success of the paper
cottage will depend upon the discovery of
SOME very cheap material for the pulp,
and also a cheap process for compacting
the same and rendering it waterproof 1t
would seem that there was wood enough
in the country to make cheap pulp, but no
compound has yet been placed upon the
market that viii fully meet the above con-
ditionS. 1t is in the line of American in
genuity and inventive skill, and will no
doubt soon reach practical stage
Paper may be used for the deadenins eof
floors. The curling up of matched flooring
when applied to wet mortar has lis disad-
vantages, ard when buildings must be fin
ished in a hurry the passage Of sound may
be stopped by paper, perhaps combined
with mineral wool, without introducing
moisture into building already too damp.
Architects, in the attempt to stop the pas
sage of sound through floors and partitions,
try mortar and plaster, sand, ashes, and
concrete between Joints and on the top
of them, paper and felt, mineral wool, air
spaces, etc; but who can tell how to stop
the most sound for the least money?
Another architect suggests that some
thing may be built in the following man
ner: The frames of the house to be of
wood, the siding to be of building paper
laid to break joints and weather, the lower
edges to be cut into scollops, waving lines
or other shapes to suit. Around the open
ings the paper to fasten into rabbets and
the joints to be made tight The roof is
to be made much the same way, leaving
the effect of tiles, shingles or whatever the
designer may choose. Cutters exterior
architraves or other parts may be stamped
or nodded in papier-mache, some for orna-
ments and details around porches, bay
windows or to ornament exterior features.
The entire exterior may be either finished
with spar varnish or other paint TO make
the same impervious to weather and to
decorate at the same time.
| The interior features, even the walls and
ceilings of Il house, to be much the same as
the outside and decorated much in the
same wly The floors thus may be made
of stiff pasteboard where carpets are used,
and it is possible even to leave them bare,
if finished with some spaEvarnish or other
preparation hard enough to preserve them
from the ordinary wear and tear of the
floors. All of the above may be done now,
and probably at saving over the usual
methods. OF course the practical applica-
ton requires careful and thoughtful con-
sideration, but perhaps there may be no
need of new material or condition not
v already close at hand. 1t may not be
possible to make the sash, stairs or blinds
of paper at present, although itwould seem
: to be an easy problem to solve.
Paper is practicable for all parts of a
house except the construction details. 4
house thus built can be erected quicker,
cheaper and in a more Clearly manner
ard, moreover, filter to live in, on account
of the absence of moisture. The decorat-
ors have already shown that there is more
value than the CONSTITUTIONAL one, and
artists and architects are obtaining some
fine results.
When paper shall come into general use
there will be no more shrinkage, no more